210 
trichum, though the conidia appear to be typical. It is perhaps 
generically distinct, but rather than establish a new genus in this 
already overcrowded and confused group, we write it as above. 
TILLETIA CORONA Scrib. 
This striking smut was first observed by Scribner on Hloma- 
Locenchrus oryzotdes and H. Virginicus near Washington, D. C., in 
1886, and specimens collected by him were distributed by Ellis 
under the above name in N. A. F.,as No. 1896. It has since 
been collected by Waite in Illinois and Missouri on Homalocen- 
chrus,on Panicum virgatum in Ulinois, and by the writers in Mis- 
sissippi on Homalocenchrus lenticularis and H. Virginicus at Col- 
umbus, on AY. lenticularis at Bairds, and on Panicum sanguinale 
at Starkville. Specimens on Panicum virgatum in the herbarium 
of the Division of Vegetable Pathology at Washington bear the 
unpublished herbarium name 7, pu/cherrima Ell. and Gal., but they 
seem identical with the forms on the other hosts. As no descrip- 
tion of this species has been published, we make the following, 
drawn from an examination of all the above mentioned material. 
TILLETIA CORONA Scrib. 
Infesting the ovaries, transforming them into black curved 
horn-shaped masses sometimes I cm. in length, the outer cover- 
ing firm in texture, showing traces of the cellular structure of the 
ovary ; spores large, spherical, 22-26 », dark fuscous and densely 
opake when mature, but covered with a hyaline envelope 2 » or 
more in thickness, the surface of the dark central mass covered 
by minute but deep alveolations, this structure being obscured by 
the opacity of the mature spore, when the thin alveolar walls can 
be seen only at the periphery, where they appear like numerous 
spinous projections reaching almost through the hyaline envelope. 
_ The remains of the fruiting hyphae often persist on the younget 
spores as a false pedicel. 
On various grasses, Mississippi, Illinois, Missouri and Wash- 
ington, D. C. | 
Several other species of Zii//etia have similar large spores with _ 
a hyaline outer covering, but in the others the spores are less dark — 
and opake, and the alveolar reticulations are much larger and 
more easily recognized. These species form a natural group quite __ 
distinct from the other 7i//et#as, and might well be considered as 
constituting a distinct genus. : 
